State Street Global Advisors’ strategy to lower the expense ratio of 15 existing ETFs with established AUM has paid off handsomely.
Since debuting just four months ago, its ultra-low-cost SPDR Portfolio suite has already attracted over $10 billion in inflows, as investors continue to gravitate towards the lowest cost ETFs.
The milestone was passed on Friday, Feb. 16.
Matthew Bartolini, Head of SPDR Americas Research at State Street Global Advisors, told ETF Trends that before the restructuring, only three of the 15 funds had over $1 billion AUM.
Now nine of the ultra-low-cost funds are in the $1 billion club.
“Clients can construct portfolios with confidence – trading costs are really important,” Bartolini said. “When new products are launched, even if they are low fee, you have a hard time garnering assets and trading liquidity.”
When SSGA did the restructuring, Bartolini said they knew it wasn’t enough to just be the lowest cost exposure in a category, but the funds also needed existing assets, established liquidity and track records.